Autoimmune retinopathy in patients with myasthenia gravis: cases series and literature review

Yiqiao Chen; Yexin Zhang; Jia Luo; Miaomiao Liu; Min Lin; Wenhua Zhu; Wenjun Xiong; Peiquan Zhao; Jianying Xi; Ping Fei

doi:10.1186/s12886-025-04357-5

Autoimmune retinopathy in patients with myasthenia gravis: cases series and literature review

Yiqiao Chen (Co-first Author), Yexin Zhang (Co-first Author), Jia Luo (Co-first Author), Miaomiao Liu, Min Lin, Wenhua Zhu, Wenjun Xiong, Peiquan Zhao, Jianying Xi^*, Ping Fei^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Biomedical Sciences

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

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Abstract

Background Previous studies showed a higher frequency of concurrent autoimmune disease (AD) in patients with Myasthenia gravis (MG), but very few cases on MG patients complicated with AIR have been reported in preview literature. The goal of this study was to present three cases of autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) with myasthenia gravis (MG), conduct a literature search, and summarize the clinical characteristics of this entity.
Methods Case series and literature review.
Results The seven AIR patients with MG were six females and a male with a mean age of 41.29(± 15.22)years old. Five had thymoma, and two had no tumor. Their symptoms of MG improved after treatment. The main ocular manifestations of AIR were bilateral, subacute, painless vision loss. The fundus examinations showed diffuse pigmentary retinopathy and atrophy of retina. Electroretinography (ERG) showed dysfunction of rod and cone cell. Hereditary retinopathy was ruled out. ARA (anti-retinal antibody) testing showed positive result for anti-retinal antibodies (ARAs), confirming the diagnosis of AIR.
Conclusions There is a certain frequency of concurrent MG and AIR. Patients with AIR have distinct features in the course of the disease, multimodal auxiliary examination and ARA testing. Suspected cases of MG should be comprehensively screened for early diagnosis and treatment of AIR.
© The Author(s) 2025.

Original language	English
Article number	521
Number of pages	10
Journal	BMC Ophthalmology
Volume	25
Online published	30 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-025-04357-5
Publication status	Published - 2025

Funding

This work was supported by Hospital Funded Clinical Research, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine under Grant 24XHCR03B; Open Project of Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study under Grant 2023kflx001; National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 81770963. The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Research Keywords

Anti-retinal antibodies
Autoimmune retinopathy
Cancer-associated retinopathy
Myasthenia gravis
Thymoma

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This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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title = "Autoimmune retinopathy in patients with myasthenia gravis: cases series and literature review",

abstract = "Background Previous studies showed a higher frequency of concurrent autoimmune disease (AD) in patients with Myasthenia gravis (MG), but very few cases on MG patients complicated with AIR have been reported in preview literature. The goal of this study was to present three cases of autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) with myasthenia gravis (MG), conduct a literature search, and summarize the clinical characteristics of this entity. Methods Case series and literature review. Results The seven AIR patients with MG were six females and a male with a mean age of 41.29(± 15.22)years old. Five had thymoma, and two had no tumor. Their symptoms of MG improved after treatment. The main ocular manifestations of AIR were bilateral, subacute, painless vision loss. The fundus examinations showed diffuse pigmentary retinopathy and atrophy of retina. Electroretinography (ERG) showed dysfunction of rod and cone cell. Hereditary retinopathy was ruled out. ARA (anti-retinal antibody) testing showed positive result for anti-retinal antibodies (ARAs), confirming the diagnosis of AIR. Conclusions There is a certain frequency of concurrent MG and AIR. Patients with AIR have distinct features in the course of the disease, multimodal auxiliary examination and ARA testing. Suspected cases of MG should be comprehensively screened for early diagnosis and treatment of AIR. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",

keywords = "Anti-retinal antibodies, Autoimmune retinopathy, Cancer-associated retinopathy, Myasthenia gravis, Thymoma",

author = "Yiqiao Chen and Yexin Zhang and Jia Luo and Miaomiao Liu and Min Lin and Wenhua Zhu and Wenjun Xiong and Peiquan Zhao and Jianying Xi and Ping Fei",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1186/s12886-025-04357-5",

language = "English",

volume = "25",

journal = "BMC Ophthalmology",

issn = "1471-2415",

publisher = "BioMed Central Ltd.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Autoimmune retinopathy in patients with myasthenia gravis

T2 - cases series and literature review

AU - Chen, Yiqiao

AU - Zhang, Yexin

AU - Luo, Jia

AU - Liu, Miaomiao

AU - Lin, Min

AU - Zhu, Wenhua

AU - Xiong, Wenjun

AU - Zhao, Peiquan

AU - Xi, Jianying

AU - Fei, Ping

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Background Previous studies showed a higher frequency of concurrent autoimmune disease (AD) in patients with Myasthenia gravis (MG), but very few cases on MG patients complicated with AIR have been reported in preview literature. The goal of this study was to present three cases of autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) with myasthenia gravis (MG), conduct a literature search, and summarize the clinical characteristics of this entity. Methods Case series and literature review. Results The seven AIR patients with MG were six females and a male with a mean age of 41.29(± 15.22)years old. Five had thymoma, and two had no tumor. Their symptoms of MG improved after treatment. The main ocular manifestations of AIR were bilateral, subacute, painless vision loss. The fundus examinations showed diffuse pigmentary retinopathy and atrophy of retina. Electroretinography (ERG) showed dysfunction of rod and cone cell. Hereditary retinopathy was ruled out. ARA (anti-retinal antibody) testing showed positive result for anti-retinal antibodies (ARAs), confirming the diagnosis of AIR. Conclusions There is a certain frequency of concurrent MG and AIR. Patients with AIR have distinct features in the course of the disease, multimodal auxiliary examination and ARA testing. Suspected cases of MG should be comprehensively screened for early diagnosis and treatment of AIR. © The Author(s) 2025.

AB - Background Previous studies showed a higher frequency of concurrent autoimmune disease (AD) in patients with Myasthenia gravis (MG), but very few cases on MG patients complicated with AIR have been reported in preview literature. The goal of this study was to present three cases of autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) with myasthenia gravis (MG), conduct a literature search, and summarize the clinical characteristics of this entity. Methods Case series and literature review. Results The seven AIR patients with MG were six females and a male with a mean age of 41.29(± 15.22)years old. Five had thymoma, and two had no tumor. Their symptoms of MG improved after treatment. The main ocular manifestations of AIR were bilateral, subacute, painless vision loss. The fundus examinations showed diffuse pigmentary retinopathy and atrophy of retina. Electroretinography (ERG) showed dysfunction of rod and cone cell. Hereditary retinopathy was ruled out. ARA (anti-retinal antibody) testing showed positive result for anti-retinal antibodies (ARAs), confirming the diagnosis of AIR. Conclusions There is a certain frequency of concurrent MG and AIR. Patients with AIR have distinct features in the course of the disease, multimodal auxiliary examination and ARA testing. Suspected cases of MG should be comprehensively screened for early diagnosis and treatment of AIR. © The Author(s) 2025.

KW - Anti-retinal antibodies

KW - Autoimmune retinopathy

KW - Cancer-associated retinopathy

KW - Myasthenia gravis

KW - Thymoma

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VL - 25

JO - BMC Ophthalmology

JF - BMC Ophthalmology

M1 - 521

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Autoimmune retinopathy in patients with myasthenia gravis: cases series and literature review

Abstract

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Research Keywords

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